Francis a williams



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UNITED STATES s PATENT OFFICE@ FRANCIS A. WILLIAMS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ME-TALLIC RAILROAD-TIE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,321, dated December7, 1880,

Application led January 2, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANCIS A. WILLIAMS, ofthe city, county, and. State of New York, have invented certainImprovements in Metallic Railroad-Ties, of which the following is aspeciiication.

This invention is more particularly intended to be made of cast-iron;and its object is to provide a metallic tie which will have a firm andsteady gripe upon the earth or ballasting, in or upon which it isplaced, to afford a broad and effective support to the rails, andprovide not only for the strong retention of the rails in position, butalso for their ready detachment, when required, for replacement orrepair.

My said invention comprises a railroad-tie composed of two broadbearing-plates, each having cast or formed thereon peculiarly`constructed lugs, arranged to act in conjunction with sliding keys, bywhich therails are to be attached to the tie, the two plates beingconnected by vertical iiat ribs, which project downward not only betweenthe plates but underneath the same, so that the ballast of the road-bedis enabled to rmly anchor the tie as a whole in its place.

Figure 1 is a plan View, Fig. 2 an inverted plan view, Fig. 3 a verticallongitudinal sectional view, and Fig. A an end View, of a railroad-tieembracing my said invention.

A A are the bearing-plates, the edges of which may be beveled, as shownat a, and preferably formed with downwardly-extending circumferentialanges b. B B are the longitudinal ribs which connect the plates A A. Thevertical depth of these ribs is much greater than their horizontalwidth, Vin order to afford the greatest resistance to vertical strain.These ribs B B are at some distance apart, the plates A A being atopposite ends of the ribs, and being connected thereby, as representedin Figs. l, 2, and 3, the end portions, c, 'of the ribs projectingdownward from the plates, while the central portions, b, also projectingdownward, have between them the space C.

When the tie is placed in position and suitably ballasted the endportion, 1), serves to anchor the plates tXedly in their horizontalposition, while the earth or ballastiug, being firmly rammed or packedbetween and around the central portions, b, assists in this retention ofthe bearing-plates in position, and serves to steady and support them intheir requisite relation with the rails D D.

Upon each of the bearing-plates A A is a lug, g, so shaped as to titover the adjacent flange of the rail placed upon the plate, as morefully represented in Fig. 3. Upon each of the plates, also, and arrangedopposite to its lug g, are two other lugs, h, so shaped as to hold uponthe opposite iiange of the rail when the rail is thrust endwise betweenthe lug g on one side and the lugs h on the other.

The inner edges or sides of each pair of lugs h are shaped to formguides a', in which is placed a sliding key, m, the inner end of whichsliding key being so shaped as to pass over and upon the adjacent flangeof the rail and to gripe the same in proportion to the degree with whichthe said key is forced inward toward the rail.

Transverse slots a are formed in the lugs h,

and a corresponding slot is formed in each of the keys m, alocking-wedge, r, being driven through the slots, and, bearing againstthe innermost surface of the slot in the key m, forces the said key overand upon the ange of the rail, and lock the rail rmly between the innerend of the said sliding key and the fixed lug g on the opposite side ofthe rail, as more fully indicated (in part in dotted outline) in Fig. l.

It is to be understood that the plates A A, ribs B B, and lugs g h arepreferably to be cast in one piece.

I do not in this present application claim the lugs g h, sliding keys m,and lockingwedges r, formed upon disconnected plates for attachment towooden ties, and with the object of providing a bearing to the joints ofrails, it being my intention to make a separate and independentapplication for Letters Pat- IOO und h, the Hat ribs B B, connecting tbcbuur substantially us and for the purpose herein ing-plates andprojecting downward in vortil set forth. cal plaines below ns well alsbetween sind plates, and with a space between said ribs, l 5 and thesliding keys m, plm-ed upon the upi \\'itnesses:

per sides of tbe bearing-plates und movable Il. F. PARKER,

FRANCIS A. WILLIAMS.

in a direction longitudinal with the ribs. all CIIAS. HY. DOXAT.

